Science! (2 Viewers)

[Eeyore]

Your Favorite Bananas Are Rapidly Going Extinct – but Scientists Say You Can Help Stop It

The bananas you enjoy in the morning — with your cereal, in your smoothies, with a healthy scoop of peanut butter, or just on their own — are facing extinction. Here's how you can help stop it.

www.foodandwine.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Octopuses normally hunt alone, but footage captured by divers has revealed that they can collaborate with fish to find their next meal. The videos, described today in Nature Ecology & Evolution1, show that the different species even adopt specific roles to maximize the success of joint hunting expeditions.

“The octopus basically works as the decider of the group,” says co-author Eduardo Sampaio, an animal-behaviour researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany. “There’s a sign that some cognition is occurring here, for sure.”

Although octopuses have been spotted foraging alongside fish before, the relationship between the species has not always been clear.…..

Octopuses and fish caught on camera hunting as a team

Although typically viewed as solitary animals, octopuses sometimes work with fish to entrap prey.

www.nature.com

Octopuses don’t always hunt alone — but their partners aren’t who you’d expect.

A new study shows that some members of the species Octopus cyanea maraud around the seafloor in hunting groups with fish, which sometimes include several fish species at once.

The research, published in the journal Nature on Monday, even suggests that the famously intelligent animals organized the hunting groups’ decisions, including what they should prey upon.

What’s more, the researchers witnessed the cephalopod species — often called the big blue or day octopus — punching companion fish, apparently to keep them on task and contributing to the collective effort.

Octopuses have often been thought to avoid other members of their species and prowl solo using camouflage. But the study suggests that some octopuses have surprisingly rich social lives — a finding that opens a new window into the marvels of undersea life.

It’s an indication that at least one octopus species has characteristics and markers of intelligence that scientists once considered common only in vertebrates.

Octopuses recorded hunting with fish — and punching those that don't cooperate

Octopuses have often been thought to prowl the seafloor solo using camouflage. But a new study suggests that some have surprisingly rich social lives.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

A new species of ghost shark, with an unusually long nose and a whip-like tail, has been discovered in the inky depths of New Zealand waters.

Scientists at New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospherics (Niwa) initially believed the creature was part of an existing species found around the world, but further investigation revealed it was new, genetically distinct, species.

The newly described Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish is only found in New Zealand and Australian waters.

Ghost sharks – also known as chimaeras and spookfish - are a group of cartilaginous fish closely related to sharks and rays. They have smooth skin, beak-like teeth and feed off crustaceans such as shrimp and molluscs. They are sometimes referred to as the ocean’s butterflies for the way they glide through the water with their large pectoral fins.


The mysterious fish are typically found at great ocean depths – up to 2,600 metres - and little is known about their biology or the threats they face.

“Ghost sharks are incredibly under-studied, there is a lot we don’t know about them,” said Dr Brit Finucci, a fisheries scientist at Niwa who helped discover the new species.……

New ghost shark species with unusually long nose discovered in deep seas off New Zealand

The narrow-nosed spookfish is also found in Australian waters and is distinctive for its elongated snout and whip-like tail

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

With the help of artificial intelligence, researchers have found hundreds of ancient artworks carved into the pebbled ground of Peru’s Nazca Desert.

Featuring decapitated heads, llamas, orcas holding weapons and more, these so-called geoglyphs were likely created by the Nazca culture, a pre-Inca South American Indigenous group known for creating the famed Nazca Lines.

The Nazca Lines were first recorded by scientists in 1927. Over the next near-century, researchers attributed around 430 figurative geoglyphs to the Nazca people.

Now, a new A.I.-assisted survey published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienceshas found 303 additional geoglyphs in just six months. The drawings, made at least 2,000 years ago in an elevated desert in southern Peru, provide insights into the customs of the ancient Nazca civilization……

See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More

An A.I.-assisted study identified 303 previously unknown geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert. The art features surprising figures, like orcas holding knives

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

The resin of a tree grown from an ancient seedfound in a desert cave near Jerusalem could be the source of a medicinal balm mentioned in the Bible, a new study has found.

The strange seed, about 2cm long, was discovered in a Judean Desert cave in the late 1980s, and dated to between 993AD and 1202AD. After years of attempting to grow the plant, researchers have identified the sapling nicknamed “Sheba”.

DNA analysis has revealed that the tree belongs to a unique species of the Commiphora family, which is distributed across Africa, Madagascar and the Arabian Peninsula and known for its aromatic gum resins.

Researchers suspected the “Sheba” tree to be a candidate for the “Judean Balsam” or “Balm of Judea”, which was cultivated exclusively in the desert region of southern Levant during Biblical times.…….

Scientists grow ‘lost tree’ mentioned in Bible using mysterious ancient seed

Tree’s resin, called ’tsori’ in Biblical texts, was highly prized in ancient world for its used in perfume, incense, cataract medicine, embalming agents, and antidotes

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

Scientists have created artificial spider web silkthat they say can be used to make ultra-strong bandages for treating chronic wounds.

The silken bandages, developed by researchers at Nanjing Tech University in China, are easily spinnable using a 3D printing setup, while also being stable enough to improve the treatment of certain medical conditions.

The team tested the novel wound dressings on mice with a degenerative joint disease and chronic wounds caused by diabetes, which both healed faster than with traditional bandages.

“The new silken bandages are biocompatible and biodegradable,” the researchers noted.

“We believe that artificial spider silk based on an exact spinning strategy will provide a high-efficient way to construct and modulate the next generation of smart materials.”

Spider webs have been used to treat wounds as far back as ancient Rome, however its use in medical applications is not practical on a large scale.…….

Scientists spin artificial spider webs to treat chronic wounds

Ultra-strong material can transform treatment of severe medical conditions

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

Astronomers have made the most detailed infrared map of our galaxy ever made.

The huge map has already helped changed our view of the galaxy in unexpected ways, according to its creators.

In all, it catalogues more than 1.5 billion objects, a vast improvement on previous examples. It includes stars and other objects.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (Vista) telescope, the scientists monitored the central regions of the Milky Way for more than 13 years.

Dante Minniti, an astrophysicist at Universidad Andres Bello in Chile who led the overall project, said: “We made so many discoveries, we have changed the view of our galaxy forever.”

The data covers an area the sky equivalent to 8,600 full moons, and contains about 10 times more objects than a previous map released by the same team back in 2012.

Observing infrared light also enables the telescope to spot very cold objects, which glow at these wavelengths, such as brown dwarfs - failed stars that do not have sustained nuclear fusion, or free-floating planets that do not orbit a star.

The huge infrared map comes in at 500 terabytes of data, making it the largest observational project ever carried out with an ESO telescope.……..

Scientists make most detailed ever infrared map of the Milky Way

‘We made so many discoveries,’ says creator

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

A team at the University of Southampton is testing a new propulsion system which would allow metals found on comets and moons to be harvested in order to propel a spacecraft indefinitely.

Most current rocket propulsion systems for spacecraft that have left Earth's atmosphere use rare gas phase fuels such as xenon or krypton, which are easy to supply on Earth but difficult to get in space.

But using metals a spacecraft could harvest along its journey "opens a new way to explore planets and space," lead scientist Dr Minkwan Kim told Sky News.

"It can actually go far into deep space and operate for many years."

The new thrusters can burn metals which are relatively abundant in space, such as iron, aluminium and copper, said Dr Kim, who created a plasma thruster design for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched last year.

"That gives us a new strategy to travel through deep space," he added.…….

Deep space voyages to 'seek out new life' could be made possible by new rocket thruster

A team at the University of Southampton is testing a new propulsion system that would allow metals found on comets and moons to be harvested in order to propel a spacecraft "indefinitely".

news.sky.com

 

[bonnjer]

Scientists May Have Found A Whole New Region of Our Solar System

What’s better than one Kuiper Belt? Two Kuiper Belts!

www.yahoo.com

 

[bonnjer]

Black hole shot a beam through space. NASA snapped stunning footage.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a view of a huge jet of plasma shooting into space from galaxy M87's supermassive black hole.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Sailorsaint]

Black hole shot a beam through space. NASA snapped stunning footage.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a view of a huge jet of plasma shooting into space from galaxy M87's supermassive black hole.

www.yahoo.com

I’m thinking galactic war and Starkiller Base.

 

[Eeyore]

What happens when you hold in a fart?

We all hold in farts from time to time, but where does the gas go?

www.livescience.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

A comet that has not been seen from Earth since Neanderthals were alive and kicking has reappeared in the sky, with astronomers saying it might be visible to the naked eye.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–Atlas) was discovered by astronomers early last year, and is thought to orbit the sun about every 80,000 years on a highly elongated path.

Dr Gregory Brown, the senior public astronomy officer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said the comet was thought to have originated in the Oort cloud, which lies beyond Neptune’s orbit.


“[This is] the vast, roughly spherical region around the sun, which is has icy remnants of the formation of the solar system,” he said.

But now the comet is in our neck of the woods. Having made its closest approach to the sun at the end of last month, it is expected to do the same to Earth around 13 October.

“The thing about comets is that the closer that they are to us, to the Earth, the brighter they are, but also the closer they are to the sun, the brighter they are. So the closest approach isn’t necessarily going to be the brightest time,” said Brown, noting that may instead fall around 9 October.

At that point, however, the comet will be almost directly between the Earth and the sun. As a result, said Brown, the best time to look for it will be a few days before and after.

“Naked-eye-visible comets are rare enough as it is, and this one has the potential to be amongst the brightest that we’ve seen in the last few decades. So it’s certainly worth a go,” he said.……..

Comet last seen in stone age to make closest approach to Earth

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–Atlas) was discovered last year and is thought to orbit the sun every 80,000 years

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

I always thought that Alpha Centauri was the closet start at about 4 light years
==================================================

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard's star, the closest single star to our sun. On this newly discovered exoplanet, which has at least half the mass of Venus, a year lasts just over three Earth days. The team's observations also hint at the existence of three more exoplanet candidates, in various orbits around the star.

Located just six light-years away, Barnard's star is the second-closest stellar system—after Alpha Centauri's three-star group—and the closest individual star to us. Owing to its proximity, it is a primary target in the search for Earth-like exoplanets. Despite a promising detection back in 2018, no planet orbiting Barnard's star had been confirmed until now.

The discovery of this new exoplanet—announced in a paper published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics—is the result of observations made over the last five years with ESO's VLT, located at Paranal Observatory in Chile. "Even if it took a long time, we were always confident that we could find something," says Jonay González Hernández, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain, and lead author of the paper.

The team were looking for signals from possible exoplanets within the habitable or temperate zone of Barnard's star—the range where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. Red dwarfs like Barnard's star are often targeted by astronomers since low-mass rocky planets are easier to detect there than around larger sun-like stars...........

MSN

 

[Sailorsaint]

I always thought that Alpha Centauri was the closet start at about 4 light years
==================================================

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard's star, the closest single star to our sun. On this newly discovered exoplanet, which has at least half the mass of Venus, a year lasts just over three Earth days. The team's observations also hint at the existence of three more exoplanet candidates, in various orbits around the star.

Located just six light-years away, Barnard's star is the second-closest stellar system—after Alpha Centauri's three-star group—and the closest individual star to us. Owing to its proximity, it is a primary target in the search for Earth-like exoplanets. Despite a promising detection back in 2018, no planet orbiting Barnard's star had been confirmed until now.

The discovery of this new exoplanet—announced in a paper published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics—is the result of observations made over the last five years with ESO's VLT, located at Paranal Observatory in Chile. "Even if it took a long time, we were always confident that we could find something," says Jonay González Hernández, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain, and lead author of the paper.

The team were looking for signals from possible exoplanets within the habitable or temperate zone of Barnard's star—the range where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. Red dwarfs like Barnard's star are often targeted by astronomers since low-mass rocky planets are easier to detect there than around larger sun-like stars...........

MSN

Alpha Centauri is a triple star system, Barnard’s star is a single star system.